![]() ![]() This randomized trial had a striking outcome. A total of 605 patients having a recent heart attack were randomized to either instruction in a diet patterned after the Cretan Mediterranean diet or to no dietary instruction. In this important randomized study, the researchers modeled changes in a Western diet after the dietary patterns found in the Cretan Mediterranean diet in the Seven Countries Study 6. 6 A randomized trial was devised to see if this diet could be shown to be the cause of the reduction in death and disease. There were researchers at the time of this study that decided to focus on the Cretan Mediterranean diet because this diet is associated with very low rates of heart attack, death and cancer, even when compared to other Mediterranean diets. The Lyon Diet Heart Study is what proved that the Mediterranean diet was the cause of the benefit 5,6. No other comprehensive diet approach has proven this benefit. ![]() The Atkin’s diet, South Beach diet, low fat diets and even the DASH diet are without this kind of data. The Mediterranean diet is different in that a randomized trial has proven that the Mediterranean diet causes a reduction in total death rate and heart attack rate. The Mediterranean diet, as noted before, is supported by unique scientific evidence. The type of study that can prove that a diet is the cause of the benefit is study which randomizes the individual trial participant to a particular diet. These studies can suggest a particular diet is beneficial, similar to the Seven Countries Study, but never actually prove that the differences in diet are truly the cause of the benefit. There are many different diets that have been analyzed using descriptive studies which compare populations with different dietary patterns. However, observational studies don’t prove that the dietary changes are the cause of the differences in health status. An observational study showed that populations that move away from the Mediterranean diet, as time progresses, subsequently develop higher rates of heart disease and death 16. There have since been multiple other studies showing health benefits associated with the Mediterranean diet 2-4,10-15. ![]() Hence, the details of the Mediterranean diet followed by the people in Crete involved in this study are of particular interest, since the Cretan Mediterranean diet had the lowest rate of death and disease of all the diets studied, including the other variations of the Mediterranean diet 1. This includes other locations that followed a somewhat different Mediterranean diet, as well as the two Japanese populations that were in the study. The populations studied in Crete which followed this diet had the lowest rate of heart attack, cancer, and death of any of the 15 populations studied 1. The people in Crete, which is a Greek island which is the cradle of Greek written language, follow a distinctive Mediterranean diet. One of the major observations of the study was that the populations that followed the Mediterranean diet had lower rates of heart disease. Five of these populations followed the Mediterranean diet. This study followed over 11,000 men for 15 years in 15 separate populations 1. This diet was first recognized as a healthy one by modern day researchers in a study called the Seven Countries Study which started in the late 1950s. The Mediterranean diet has been around for many years. This will be followed by a description of the foods that make up a Mediterranean diet. The information that supports the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet will be discussed first. ![]() The only comprehensive dietary approach proven to reduce total death rate as well as decrease heart attacks is the Mediterranean diet. You might ask, “ How many randomized dietary trials exist that show a significant reduction in total death rate?” The answer: Only four exist, and three of these studies involve fish or fish oil intake 7-9. More uniquely though, the Mediterranean diet has been proven in a randomized trial to be the cause of a reduction in death and heart attacks in patients that have had a prior heart attack 5,6.Īnd this is quite unusual. Populations following this diet have been found to have lower rates of heart disease 1-4. The Mediterranean diet is one the most healthy and well studied diets in the world. ![]()
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